Using Scanner Data to Estimate Country Price Parities: A Hedonic Regression Approach

This paper uses scanner data from the bar-code readers of retailers to provide estimates of inter-country price parities at the level of the basic heading. The use of such data is appealing given its extensive coverage of transactions, information on weights, prices and characteristics of items at a highly detailed level. The study uses dummy variable hedonic and exact/superlative hedonic index number formulations applied to an inter-country context for both bilateral and multilateral comparisons. Unlike conventional methods, such methods are not confined to matched samples comparisons and thus make use of the entire sample. Their application extends to price survey data using checklists on characteristics. The application is to scanner data on about 1 million transactions for television sets over two months in three countries. It is, to the authors' knowledge, the first such use of scanner data and application of the above hedonic frameworks in this context.     

How do social media influencers inspire consumers' purchase decisions? The mediating role of parasocial relationships

In recent years, social media influencers (SMIs) have become part of the strategic communication of firms because the traditional form of mass media communication is losing its effectiveness. Thus, it is imperative to study the effects of communication through SMIs on marketing outcomes, such as purchase intentions. Based on the fairness dimensions, that is, information, distributive, interpersonal, and procedural, and dimensions of source credibility, that is, attractiveness, expertise, trustworthiness, and similarity, this research investigated how technology-oriented SMIs (T-SMIs) foster parasocial relationships (PSRs) with followers. Purposive sampling was employed to collect data from 506 active social media users. Data were analysed through IBM AMOS and SPSS 26. The results of the study suggested that attractiveness, expertise, trustworthiness, similarity, interpersonal, procedural, and information fairness are positively related to fostering PSR with followers. In contrast, distributive fairness does not strengthen PSR with followers; furthermore, the study findings suggested an indirect positive influence of attractiveness, expertise, trustworthiness, similarity, interpersonal, procedural, and information fairness on the purchase intentions of consumers via PSR. This study is useful for academia and industry since it fills important gaps in the literature and provides recommendations to brand managers of technology companies about selecting appropriate SMIs for the endorsement of their brands.     

Relationships and networks in marketing: International perspectives

Gemünden, H.G., Ritter, T., and Walter, A. (eds.): (1997) Relationships and Networks in International Markets, NY: Pergamon, 460 pages, ISBN 0‐08‐ 043963‐5 (hardcover). Naudé, P. and Turnbull, P. (eds.): (1998) Network Dynamics in International Markets, NY: Pergamon, 321 pages, ISBN 0‐08‐043358‐8 (hardcover).     

The Impact of CEO Characteristics on the Internationalization of SMEs: Evidence from the UK

This study analyses the role of chief executive officers (CEOs) in the internationalization of small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, it examines the impact of CEOs' demographic characteristics on the internationalization of SMEs. Based on upper echelons theory, resource‐based view and information processing theory, it is hypothesized that CEO characteristics like age, education, tenure, and political connectedness affect SMEs' international performance. Using the panel data analysis of 283 UK SMEs for the period of 2005 to 2015, this study provides evidence that CEOs' political connections and educational level are positively related to firm internationalization, while age negatively influences firm internationalization. Tenure is found to have a curvilinear relationship with SMEs' internationalization. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rethinking agency theory in developing countries: A case study of Pakistan

We investigate if agency theory effectively explains agency conflict in the context of a developing country namely, Pakistan. Utilising data from 26 semi-structured interviews, we found that in Pakistan, there is no variation in risk preferences of principals (minority shareholders) and agents (majority shareholders). We also found that remuneration packages and board independence are not effective tools for governing owner managers in Pakistan. Thus, policy makers must shift their focus from soft internal governance mechanisms of appropriate remuneration and board independence. We propose for a rigorous external audit function, and appointment of independent directors and external audit firms by regulator.     

The impact of Universal Service Obligations and International Cross-subsidies on the dispersion of telephone services in developing countries

This paper re-evaluates the telecommunication policies often applied to create regional dispersion of services in developing countries. We observe that failure to consider the complexities of the regional telecommunication systems in creating policies and investment strategies has increased the telecom gap between urban and rural regions worldwide. In particular, the teledensities of rural telecommunications in developing countries have remained very low in spite of support through universal service obligation fees and cross-subsidization from international services. As traditional methods for economic analysis and modeling have failed to identify mechanisms that improve telephone dispersion in these countries, we use a system dynamics modeling approach to deal with complexities of the situation in order to evaluate how Universal Service Obligations (USOs) and International Cross-Subsidy (ICS) policies affect telephone densities. We demonstrate that these policies may be counterproductive due to the structure of the telecom system itself. We also show that, when market-clearing pricing is combined with USOs once the urban telephone density reaches a minimum threshold, the dispersion of rural telecommunications can be considerably improved.     

Knowledge structure in international marketing: a multi-method bibliometric analysis

This study examines the underlying forces that shape the international marketing (IM) field using three bibliometric methods: exploratory factor analysis (EFA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and metric multidimensional scaling (MDS). We apply these techniques to evaluate the knowledge structure of IM publications for the 1999–2008 period and to concurrently provide a supplemental examination of the findings for the 2009–2010 period. Overall, our database contains 228,929 citations used in 3,632 IM articles from 34 academic journals in which marketing publications appear. We initially trace the underpinning knowledge structure in the literature in five-year increments for all influential IM publications. We then refine our analysis and examine marketing-centered scholarly influences on the IM literature and undertake an examination of the developments in later years. The results indicate that the IM field is expanding and is considerably more inclusive, sophisticated, and increasingly more complex than in earlier periods. Our findings also demonstrate that other disciplines (principally management) have had a profound influence on the development of the IM literature during the 12-year period under investigation. Using the bibliometric results derived from our data, we provide guidelines for future research and contrast them with those forwarded in review studies of the international marketing literature.     

Cross-national research and international business: An interdisciplinary path

Comparative cross-national research is among the oldest approaches of scientific inquiry in the social sciences. We investigate the foundations of published works in cross-national research (CNR) in international business (IB), sociology, and psychology with an eye on leveraging their rich traditions for future IB research. Our approach aims to contribute and address repeated calls for taking an interdisciplinary approach in IB. We examined published CNR in 106 scholarly journals and identified 817 articles with 51,738 citations in IB, 477 works with 30,017 citations in sociology, and 835 articles with 54,519 citations in psychology. We use metric multidimensional scaling to examine the co-citation data for each field and identify knowledge and approaches commonplace in sociology and psychology to propose future research paths in IB. In particular multilevel analysis, which is scarcely used in IB, offers the potential of unfolding new dimensions within the field. Based on the emergent results from our MDS solutions, we recommend multiple future paths for CNR, particularly with respect to IB relationships, market entry, and related domains.     

Using the crowd for business model innovation: the case of Digikala

On November 15, 2015, Digikala, one of the largest online stores in the Middle East, launched its first-ever crowdsourcing contest called ‘A glance at tomorrow’. What distinguishes this contest from common crowd-based initiatives is that it was aimed at Business Model Innovation (BMI) rather than product and process innovation. Although using the crowd has proven to be an effective way for firms to boost their product and process innovation, its use for BMI is challenging. Based on real large-scale data from the Digikala’s crowdsourcing contest, this research focuses on the application of crowd-powered solutions in BMI, which has rarely been investigated previously. Our exploratory case study indicates that the crowd could contribute to the BMI process. Our findings point to a new form of ‘division of innovation labor’ in BMI. Contribution of the crowd in BMI is more likely to be relevant to Value Proposition and Value Delivery, while it might be less relevant to Value Capture and Value Creation. The results also support the notion that crowd-contributor characteristics affect the quality of proposals for BMI. We argue that this line of research could help companies design and implement customized crowd-based initiatives to better support their BMI process.     

A causal relationship between trade efficiency and economic efficiency: Evidence from dynamic simultaneous equations models

The objective of this study is to examine the causal relationship between economic efficiency and trade efficiency using dynamic panel data in simultaneous equations models for global panel of 50 countries over the period 2000–2014. The study also implements this interrelationship for two groups of countries based on their level of development. Two models applying different factors reflecting countries’ economic and trade policies are proposed to measure the targeted efficiencies using data envelopment analysis method. Evidence from the simultaneous equations models to identify a relationship between economic efficiency and trade efficiency supports the bidirectional causality between them in all three categories of countries. It has been also found that both economic and institutional factors have a significant positive influence on trade and growth performance, with the effect of political factors being especially pronounced for developing countries that suffer from weak institutional capacity. These empirical findings are of particular interest to policy-makers as they help to build sound policies in order to maximize trade performance as well as economic efficiency.